TACACHURCH
What we believe
Our faith is centered on Jesus Christ and shaped by what we call the Doctrine of Love: Love God. Love Yourself. Love Others.
We believe love is not simply one Christian value among many. Jesus taught that love of God and love of neighbor are the foundation of faithful living. Because of that, our beliefs, biblical interpretation, ministry, and relationships are all shaped by the love revealed in Jesus Christ.
We believe in one God, the Creator and sustainer of all things.
God is holy, just, merciful, and loving. We believe God’s character is most clearly revealed in Jesus Christ, and that God’s love is central to understanding who God is and how God relates to humanity.
We also believe God’s love confronts evil and injustice. Love does not ignore harm. It seeks healing, restoration, reconciliation, and justice.
Jesus Christ is at the center of our faith.
We believe Jesus reveals the character of God and shows us what faithful human life looks like. His teachings, ministry, death, and resurrection shape how we understand God, Scripture, salvation, and Christian discipleship.
We confess Jesus as Lord and believe his life and resurrection are central to the hope of the Christian faith.
Because Jesus is our clearest revelation of God, we interpret Christian doctrine and Scripture through his life, teachings, and example.
We believe the Holy Spirit is present and active in the world and in the lives of believers.
The Spirit teaches, guides, comforts, convicts, empowers, and transforms. We believe spiritual maturity should be reflected in the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
We receive the Bible as sacred Scripture and as an essential witness to God, faith, and the story of God’s people.
We believe the Bible should be studied carefully and responsibly. Historical context, culture, language, literary genre, and the original audience all matter when interpreting Scripture.
We do not believe faithful Christianity requires treating every biblical passage as though it were written directly to modern readers without context. We also do not believe Scripture should be used to control people, silence questions, justify injustice, or protect harmful traditions.
We interpret Scripture through the life and teachings of Jesus and the command to love God and our neighbors.
We welcome serious study, scholarship, questions, and thoughtful disagreement as part of a mature Christian faith.
We believe every human being bears the image of God and possesses inherent dignity and worth.
Human beings are capable of both love and harm. We all need grace, growth, healing, correction, and transformation.
We reject theology that teaches people that they are fundamentally worthless or that self-hatred is a requirement for receiving God’s love.
We understand sin as more than the violation of religious rules.
Sin is anything that damages our relationship with God, ourselves, other people, or creation. It is expressed through things such as hatred, exploitation, domination, injustice, greed, violence, dishonesty, and indifference to the suffering of others.
Because Jesus taught that the law is rooted in love of God and neighbor, we believe Christian morality must consider both behavior and its impact on people.
Repentance is the process of turning away from what is harmful and moving toward the life and love of God.
We believe salvation is made possible through Jesus Christ and is an expression of God’s grace.
Salvation is not something we earn through religious performance. It includes reconciliation with God, transformation of our lives, healing, liberation, and participation in the life God desires for humanity.
We do not understand salvation only as something that happens after death. Following Jesus also changes how we live, love, serve, forgive, and pursue justice in the present.
We believe grace should shape the culture of the church.
People need room to learn, grow, heal, ask questions, make mistakes, and change.
At the same time, grace does not require ignoring harmful behavior. Christian community should practice both compassion and accountability.
We believe truth and grace belong together.
We believe justice is an important part of Christian discipleship.
Jesus consistently cared for people who were marginalized, excluded, poor, oppressed, or overlooked. His ministry also challenged religious and social systems that caused harm.
For that reason, we believe Christians are called to care for vulnerable people, oppose injustice, protect human dignity, pursue peace, and work toward reconciliation.
We understand justice as one of the ways love is expressed in public and communal life.
TACA Church is intentionally inclusive.
We believe race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, economic status, disability, education, previous religious experience, questions, doubts, or past mistakes do not diminish a person’s dignity or worth.
LGBTQ+ people are welcome as full participants in the life and ministry of TACA Church.
We believe women and men are equally called and empowered by God to preach, teach, lead, serve, and exercise their gifts throughout the church.
We recognize that Christians may disagree on many theological issues. We believe disagreement should never become an excuse for dehumanization, discrimination, or mistreatment.
We believe the Church is a community of people learning together how to follow Jesus.
The Church is more than a building or weekly worship service. It is a community formed through worship, teaching, prayer, service, relationships, spiritual growth, and participation in the work of God.
At TACA, we use the word Apostle in its basic sense of “one who is sent.” We believe every follower of Jesus is called to carry the love of God into their homes, relationships, workplaces, communities, and the wider world.
We believe Christian faith should produce visible growth in how we live and treat people.
Spiritual maturity should make us more loving, compassionate, just, honest, humble, merciful, and courageous.
We do not believe theological knowledge alone is evidence of spiritual maturity. Our beliefs should ultimately shape our character and relationships.
We hold our beliefs with conviction while remaining open to continued learning.
We believe faithful Christians should be willing to study, ask questions, examine traditions, engage scholarship, and revise interpretations when greater understanding requires it.
Growth in understanding does not mean abandoning faith. We believe it is possible to remain deeply committed to Jesus while continuing to learn.
Our foundation remains
Jesus is Lord.God is love.Every person bears the image of God.Grace is greater than shame.Justice is inseparable from love.Nothing can separate us from the love of God.